Simplified: The Sioux Falls Police Department is taking a more hands-on approach with technology and finding ways to solve crimes in real time with the help of a dedicated control center. Here's what you need to know.
Why it matters
- The department launched its "Real Time Information Center" in January, and it's already helped recover nearly two dozen stolen vehicles and close more than 100 police calls.
- It's not that the department is using new technology, Police Chief Jon Thum said Tuesday during a media briefing on the latest crime statistics. Rather, it's a more intentional effort to use the technology already available to officers. That includes the hundreds of traffic cameras and 25 new license plate readers around town.
- The information center is only staffed part-time, for now. But Thum said in the future he could see it grow to an entire team, as well as using even more high-tech systems that could communicate with, for example, private security systems within businesses who opt to allow police access.
"All that costs money, is where we're at, and at a time when we're basically using what we have ... that's all stuff that we have to figure out down the road which direction we want to go," Thum said.
Tell me more
Thum shared an example of using the real-time information center as a way to track stolen vehicles.
It's also proving useful in identifying who is at fault in car accidents. Thum shared an example of the point-of-view video from a traffic cam showing a vehicle running a red light and causing an accident.
- By the time an officer is on scene, someone from the information center can send that video along to the officer to help discern what happened.
Thum emphasized the cameras and license plate readers are not being shared with federal agencies, though the technology may be used to collaborate with other local agencies.
"The question that ultimately gets brought up is the ICE (immigration and customs enforcement) component or federal law enforcement," Thum said. "And that's not anything that we're engaging in ... we're focused on our crimes and how we want to serve our community with our technology that we have."
What about the latest crime stats?
Thum, alongside Mayor Paul TenHaken and other public safety officials, gave a media briefing Tuesday sharing the latest crime statistics for Sioux Falls.
The overall takeaway? Sioux Falls remains a safe community.
- Vehicle thefts are way down, assaults are down, and overdoses are at a five-year low.
- Homicides are up with 10 so far this year. Though, Thum emphasized the incidents all involved people who knew each other – not random killings.
- Citations from saturation patrols have nearly doubled – thanks in part to additional state support via Operation Prairie Thunder.
- Calls for service are flat overall.
"This is not a good place to be a criminal, and I think people know that," Mayor Paul TenHaken said, adding that he sees the stats as a sign that some of the city's programs for mentorship, community-based policing and lowering recidivism are actually working.
